britster: The New MySpace For The UK?

June 26, 2007 by: UKStevieB

britster I came across a post over at Paul Enderson's blog 'Reflections' today that caught my interest; he is working to set up a new social network that will be aimed primarily at the British. Sounds good to me, seeing as I am British. At the moment he is preparing it for a private Beta and looking for some help in geting the bugs out, so if you have any experience with the inner workings of a social networking site and would like to lend a hand let him know over at his site, Reflections. If all goes well, those of us who are not as technically minded can sign on for a public beta of the network which should go live in August. With the continued growth of social networks on the web with sites like MySpace and Facebook this could be a great success. Also, as sites like YouTube are see the need to allow each country to set up their own community there is obviously an increasing need for more niche social networking sites. It will also be nice to be on a site where all the features are available to me, unlike the 'other' sites with their "currently only available in the US" applications. Wishing you well with this one, Paul, let's hope it all comes together. :-)
clipped from paulenderson.com

Britster Beta Testing
I’ve been working on Britster now for a number of months now, and the project is finally nearing completion! Everything’s in place to make this the biggest thing to happen to Social Networking in England for a long time - and I for one can’t wait to see this baby fly! ;)
During the first week of July the site will enter a ‘Private Beta’ phase, during which all of the little niggles will be resolved. Once this is done, the site will move to a ‘Public Beta’ a month later - which will see the doors open to members of the public.
So… Do you think you’ve got what it takes to help me? I’m looking for technically-minded people, who understand how social networking sites work, and who can help me to take this project to the next level. There won’t be any payment for your time at this stage, but you will get your name and a link to your website placed in a prominent position once the site goes live.


Topics: News Bites, Testing | 4 Comments »

8 Things You Don’t Know About Me

June 23, 2007 by: UKStevieB

Who Are You?Lisa Sabin-Wilson was kind enough to hit me with a tag for the "8 Things You Don't Know About Me" meme, and in my usual fashion I have failed to get it done when I said I would. Sorry. Now, in rectification:
  1. Family. I am a middle child, but my younger brother was killed in a road accident when he was 6 (I was 9). My older sister has 4 children (1 boy, 3 girls). Parents divorced, Father deceased. 1 surviving Grandparent.
  2. Alcohol. I like Guinness. It's an acquired taste, I know, but one worth acquiring. It took me to the age of 3 to really get a taste for it. Real Ales, Whisk(e)y and Wine are also acceptable forms of imbibing.
  3. Food. I am generally Vegetarian, but not based on any principle, I just never really liked meats. I like to eat Italian, garlic is one of the greatest tastes to exist. Indian food is fine too. I will eat some white meats on occasion for the convenience of others.
  4. Work. I am self-employed working mainly as a commercial window cleaner, though I do some domestic work on occasion. Though never my own, of course! ;-)
  5. Fun. I love movies, mostly on DVD these days since vandals burnt down the local cinema. I don't watch TV, though I do watch some shows on video/DVD that catch my attention. Or the wife makes me watch. I also love reading, Jane Austen being my favourite. I like Fyodor Dostoevsky too, but I am not all 'high-brow', Sci-Fi and Detective novels are my staple. I am not much of an outdoor person, I have enough of that while working.
  6. Pets. We have Joey Cat, which is my wifes first pet as she never had one while growing up. I have had all the usual suspects: canary, Guinea Pigs, tortoise, goldfish, dogs and another cat.
  7. Religion/Politics. Yes/No. I find religion fascinating and politics boring, except wherein the two interact throughout history in forming each other.
  8. General Life Philosophy. To try and leave things better than when I found them. Success and ambition play no real part in my life or desires, which is probably why I am usually very happy and content and have very little stress in my life.
In the time honoured tradition of the meme I am now required to tag some others, so I will nominate Darren Cronian of Blogged Out.

Topics: Blogging, My Life, Random Thoughts | 5 Comments »

Increasing Productivity With iGoogle

June 7, 2007 by: UKStevieB

iGoogle with iReader

In the Official Google Reader Blog today there was an interesting post that mentioned that Michael Bolin had created 'Your Page Here', a gadget for iGoogle that allows you to embed the Google Reader, Calendar or just about any web page on its own tab in iGoogle. This seemed like a pretty nifty idea to me so I thought I would give it a whirl, and it seems to work very well. You can only have six tabs on the iGoogle homepage (though there is a hack . . .) so if you are already at maximum you may have to have a bit of a sort out, you can't really have anything else running in the same tab. I now have my Google Reader and Calendar along with Docs and Spreadsheets running in their own tabs, as well as a tab with this blog in it which allows me to run this site without ever leaving iGoogle. There were a few problems getting Gmail to work in its own tab, but that may just have been me, feel free to give it a whirl yourself and let me know how you got on. With the Remember The Milk now working offline via the Google Gears application I thought I would see how well that worked too, so I added that into a tab as well and it synchronizes fine when you go back online. All in all I think that the addition of Michael Bolin's'Your Page Here' gadget will go a long way to helping me be more productive, especially if I can work out how to get Gmail to work! What uses do you think you can make of it? Do you think this will increase your productivity? Let me know in the comments.

Topics: Google, News Bites, Plugins, Tools | 21 Comments »

Google Reader Now Available Offline

May 30, 2007 by: UKStevieB

I was just checking my Google RSS feed and noticed that there is now has a new feature available, Google Gears, that you can use offline to read your 2000 most recent articles, which is more than you should need unless you're Robert Scoble. ;-) I haven't had a chance to fully check this feature out yet, but if it up to Google's usual standard it should be pretty nifty. Is this a feature you think you will use? Do you use Google for your feeds or do you prefer to use another application? Let me know in the comments if you think online or offline is the best way to read your feeds.

Google Reader Offline



Topics: Google, Testing, Tools | 1 Comment »

Online Image Editing: It’s A Picnik

May 18, 2007 by: UKStevieB

One of the tools I find myself using more often these days is the Picnik online image editor. It's a pretty nifty editor that can be used for your images on your own computer or those you find as you browse the web. It integrates well with your Flickr and Picasa accounts, allowing you to save your images direct to your profile or save straight on to your computer. You can also email your images to individuals and even certain websites that can be configured to receive images via email such as Photobucket, ImageShack and Typepad. The site is still in Beta but runs very smoothly, though you do have to have Flash 9 installed. Just about any image you find online can be pulled in to Picnik, either through using the images url or using a tool such as the Firefox Picnik extension that adds a menu option and/or a toolbar icon to make importing images into Picnik that much easier. Just what can it do for you? Apart from the usual resize, rotate, and crop it can take care of red-eye in your own pictures, fix your colours and contrast/brightness, sharpen and even add some special effects on their "Creative Tools" page. There are plenty of great effects to play around with at the moment, though a few of these will only be part of their "Premium" package once the site is out of Beta. Picnik, alongside of Faststone Capture, takes care of just about all my web image needs. I recommend you go give it a try, you don't even need to join up to test it out, so go have some fun! Seeing as there are quite a few online image editors out there, are there any you use and would recommend? Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Firefox, Testing, Tools | 3 Comments »

Getting To Know You

May 11, 2007 by: UKStevieB

facebehindtheblogDavid Airey has started a picture meme to help us bloggers get to know one another a little better and scare off give our readers an opportunity to see who is talking to them. I was tagged by Paul Enderson over at Reflections to participate in this, so if anyone wants to sue for mental and or emotional trauma over these images he is the guy to contact. ;-)

StevieB at 5 months

StevieB at 5 months of age. Ahh, bless!

StevieB, big sis' Sally and little bruv' Edward

Me with my big sister Sally and little brother Edward (deceased).

StevieB at 11

StevieB at school, age 11.

scan0003

Laura and myself on our wedding day 27th April 2002

StevieB and Joey Cat

StevieB and our Parrot Cat, Joey (Kitchen being rewired 2003).

StevieB Summer 2006

StevieB May 2006 in Milton Keynes

Obviously some of these images have been scanned, in fact I am pretty sure that only the last one was taken with a digital camera, so sorry for the lack of quality. Also participating in this meme are: Gayla at Mom Gadget Char at Essential Keystrokes Paul at Reflections Rob at 2Dolphins Zep at The In-Sect Stixster Sorry if I have missed off any of the other participants, and I tag Lisa Sabin-Wilson (Revenge!) and Carolyn Manning .

Topics: Blogging, My Life, Random Thoughts | 150 Comments »

Virtual Conference at “Thoughts & Philosophies”

May 11, 2007 by: UKStevieB

Productivity Goal Carolyn Manning of Productivity Goal.com has announced that she is hosting a virtual conference at her "Thoughts & Philosophies" blog, this will begin later today, 11th May, and carry on tomorrow, 12th May, to coincide with the SOB Con in Chicago. It will give those of us who are unable to attend an alternative venue. It looks like there will be plenty of good tips on how to make our lives more productive so make sure you check it out. For a full list of topics and times click through to her post.

Topics: Blogging, News Bites | 2 Comments »

Joost- The Next Step In TV Evolution?

May 10, 2007 by: UKStevieB

Joost TV Have you heard of Joost? It has had quite a lot of publicity of late and it looks like it may well be the next step in the evolution of on-line entertainment. If you are not sure what Joost is, here is a description from their website:
Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping. You get great internet features too, such as search, chat and instant messaging, built right into the program - so you find shows quickly and talk to your friends while you watch. And with no schedules to worry about, you can watch whatever you want, whenever you like - as often as you want. Joost is completely free, and works with most modern PCs and Intel Mac-based computers with a broadband connection.
It is the brain-child of created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the founders of founders of Skype and Kazaa, so these guys have some experience in the development of web technology. The original financing for the development of Joost was from the sale of Skype to eBay, but more recently they have also raised an additional $45m in funding from five backers (Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Li Ka Shing Foundation, CBS and Viacom) in exchange for a minority share in the company. The application works as a P2P TV client, which if you are a bit of a technology dummy like me doesn't mean much, so here is the explanation from Wikipedia:
As opposed to streaming technology in which all clients get the feed from the server, P2P TV technology differs in the sense that the servers serve only a handful of clients; each of the clients in turn propagate the stream to more downstream clients and so on. This moves the distribution costs from the channel owner to the user.
Which means, as far as I can tell, the more people that use it the better the service is, as there is less strain on the original file. To download the application itself you need to receive an invitation from someone who already has it, similar to the way Gmail used to work. The invites were limited to only 3 per participant but as of the beginning of this month invitations to join Joost have been made unlimited, though it is still in Beta. I have been using it for the last month or so and it seems to work pretty well, and with more and more channels being added it seems to have something for everyone. If you would like to try this out you can receive an invite from me by letting me know in the comments below. With a reasonably fast connection the download only takes a couple of minutes and the set-up takes even less time. Listed below are the channels available and the areas they are available in as of the 10th May 2007.
  • 88HipHop: Worldwide
  • Aardman Animation: Worldwide
  • Adult Swim: United States
  • Alliance Atlantis Sci-Fi: Worldwide excluding Canada
  • Atlantic Street: United States
  • AXN: United States
  • Bad Boy Records Presents: United States
  • Beauty TV: Worldwide
  • Best of National Geographic: United States, Canada
  • Beyond the Pit: United States
  • Bite TV: Worldwide
  • BoomChicago: Worldwide
  • Braindead: Worldwide
  • Brazilian Music Channel: Worldwide
  • Bridezillas: Worldwide excluding United States
  • Bugeye Music: Worldwide
  • Channel Frederator: Worldwide
  • Chat the Planet: Worldwide
  • Classica Channel: Worldwide excluding Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland
  • Comedy Central: United States
  • Critical Shorts: Worldwide
  • DR: Worldwide
  • Explora Channel: Worldwide
  • Fabchannel Concerts: Worldwide
  • Fifth Gear: United States
  • Fifth Gear Shortcuts: Worldwide
  • Fight Network: Worldwide
  • Floating Worlds: Worldwide
  • Fueled by Ramen: United States
  • Funny Bone: United States
  • G.I. Joe: United States
  • GameStar: Worldwide
  • Gametrailers: United States
  • GONG: North America, Europe
  • Guinness World Records TV: Worldwide
  • Havoc Action Sports TV: Worldwide excluding Japan
  • Havoc Music TV: Worldwide excluding Japan
  • HealthiNation: Worldwide
  • Heavy Animation: United States
  • Hollyoaks: United States
  • Hot & Wet Worldwide
  • i-concerts: United Kingdom
  • IMF Asia: Worldwide
  • IMF Australia: Worldwide
  • IMF France: Worldwide
  • IMF Germany: Worldwide
  • IMF Hip Hop Society: Worldwide
  • IMF Italy: Worldwide
  • IMF Journey to the Centre of the Rock: Worldwide
  • IMF Mexico: Worldwide
  • IMF One World: Worldwide
  • IMF Passage To India: Worldwide
  • IMF Puerto Rico: Worldwide
  • IMF Scandinavia: Worldwide
  • IMF Spain: Worldwide
  • IMF The Bridge- Latin America: Worldwide
  • IMF The World's Best Music: Worldwide
  • IMF UK: Worldwide
  • IndieFlix Premier Hits: Worldwide
  • Indy 500 Films: Worldwide
  • IndyCar Series: Worldwide
  • Intimate & Interactive: Worldwide
  • Joost Suggests Worldwide
  • Jump Off TV: Worldwide
  • Jump TV Arabia: Worldwide excluding Middle East
  • Jump TV Latino: Worldwide excluding Latin America, Canada
  • Lassie: United States
  • Lazy TV: United States
  • Lazy TV UK: Worldwide
  • Lime: Worldwide
  • Live @ Much: Worldwide
  • Logo: United States
  • LXTV: Worldwide
  • Ministry of Sound TV- Access All Areas: Worldwide
  • Ministry of Sound TV- Music Videos: Worldwide
  • MTV: United States
  • MTV (International): Selected countries in Europe, South America, US and Japan
  • MTV Staying Alive: Worldwide excluding United Kingdom, Ireland
  • Much Does Wakestock: Worldwide
  • MuchAdrenaline: Worldwide
  • MuchMusic Video Awards: Worldwide
  • MuchNews Weekly: Worldwide
  • MuchOnDemand: Worldwide
  • Music Nation: Worldwide
  • Nardwuar: Worldwide
  • National Geographic History and Exploration: United States, Canada
  • National Geographic People and Places: United States, Canada
  • National Geographic Wild: United States, Canada
  • National Geographic Animals and Nature: United States, Canada
  • Nettwerk: Worldwide
  • New Atlantis: Worldwide
  • Off the Fence Docs: Worldwide
  • OnSet: Worldwide
  • PokerHeaven TV: Worldwide
  • Red Bull: Worldwide
  • Rehearsals.com: Worldwide
  • Ren and Stimpy: United States
  • Reuters: Worldwide
  • Rhino Records: United States
  • Roadrunner Records: United States
  • Saavn: Worldwide
  • Saturday Morning TV: Worldwide
  • SecondsOut.tv: Worldwide
  • SHORTSTV: Worldwide
  • SHORTSTV Corto: Worldwide
  • SHORTSTV France: Worldwide
  • Snowvision: Worldwide
  • Spike TV: United States
  • Sports Illustrated Swimsuit on Demand: Worldwide
  • Terra: Worldwide
  • The Circus Channel: Worldwide excluding Italy
  • The Fit Show: Worldwide
  • The Hobby Channel: Worldwide
  • The Horror Channel: Worldwide
  • The New Music: Worldwide
  • The Recipe Channel: Worldwide excluding Spain, Portugal
  • The Roger Sisters: Worldwide
  • The Silent Movies Channel: Worldwide
  • The Soccer Channel: Europe, United States, Middle East
  • The Trance Channel: Worldwide
  • The Westside Eclectic: Worldwide
  • Transformers: United States
  • Travelistic: Worldwide
  • U.S. Soccer: Worldwide
  • VH1: United States
  • Virgin Fest 2006: Worldwide
  • VOY TV: Worldwide
  • Wall to Wall Documentary: Worldwide
  • Wall to Wall Lifestyle: Worldwide
  • Warner Bros. Records: United States
  • Watchmojo.com: Worldwide
  • Whereitast.tv: Worldwide
  • WildLight: Worldwide
  • Witness: Worldwide
  • World Championship Sports Network: United States
  • World Poker Tour: Worldwide excluding United States
  • World's Strongest Man: Worldwide
  • XL Recordings Channel: Worldwide
Take it for a test run and be part of the next step in TV evolution.

Topics: News Bites, Testing | 9 Comments »

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